Envelop-sealing machine.



H. C. STANLEY.

ENVBLOP SEALIN G MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED 11312.24, 1908.

Patented Oct. 13, 1908..

5 woe mo@ wi/wwwa@ HENRY C. STANLEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ENVELOP-SEALING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 13, 1908.

Application led February 24, 1908. Serial No. 417,411.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. STANLEY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the borou h of Manhattan, city, county, and State of ew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Envelop Sealing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for rapidly and securely sealing envelops and moistening the fiaps for such sealing all at one operation, and comprises a simple mechanism for doing this work.

The best form of apparatus at present known to me embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is an end view. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3, looking u ward.

Throughout t e drawings like reference figures indicate like parts.

1 is the bed plate or main frame which may be a section of the top of a table or stand. 2 is a late set longitudinally in or fastened to saild main frame and provided with the upwardly bent extension 3, which is bent forwardly at 4, downwardly at 5, and backwardly at 6 to form a guide for the envelop Hap. Beneath this portion ofthe plate is a tank 7 for holding water and in which one end of the wick 8 is immersed. The remainder of the wick is stretched along over the portion 4 of the late extension, down through opening 9, a ong the upper side of the ortion 6, and terminates over the opening 10. The main portion 2 of the plate has an opening 11 under the opening 10, and over the tank 7. At the end of plate 2 are a pair of freely rotating pressure rolls 12 and 13. The upper roll 13 is journaled in a housing 14 which slides up and down in the vertical guide 15. A series of weights 16, 16, may be placed on this housin@ to regulate the pressure of the roll 13.

zIn operating my invention, water placed in tank 7, saturates wick 8, the surplus dripkping down through openings 10 and 11 back The envelop to be sealed is to the tanks.

laid on plate 2, with its flap uppermost and slid toward extension 3. This guides and bends the Hap over so that its gummed side is pressed down on that portion of the damp wick lying on top of part 6, of the extension and moistened thereby. The dampened envelop then passes on under roller 13, the weights being so adjusted as to give the necessary pressure for sealing the same.

The advantages of my invention comprise its cheapness and simplicity, the rapidity with which it can be operated, only one hand being required, the non-liability to tear or crumple the envelop, there being little obstruction offered to its passage, and the fact that the moistening operation is automatic, it not being necessary to turn on the water nor to turn it off.

The construction described leaves at the front of the apparatus an open continuous passageway for the body of the envelop under the fia guide and moistener, through the sealing rolls. Thus only about one-half of the width of the envelop need be inserted in the apparatus, the remainder projecting from the front of the device where it may be iirmly grasped by the hand of the operator during the entire operation.

I-Iaving, therefore, described my invention, I claim:

In an envelop sealing device, the combination with the main frame of a plate set longitudinally in the upper surface thereof and provided with a projecting portion bent upwardly, forwardly, downwardly and backwardly to form a flap guide, a wick extending along said flap guide, a tank in which the other end of the wick is immersed located below the plate and a pair of pressure rollers located at one end of the plate, said plate having an opening under the upper end of the wick and over the tank, and a second opening in the rearwardly bent portion of the plate under the end of the wick and over the first mentioned opening.

Signed at New York, N. Y. this 21st day of February 1908.

HENRY C. STANLEY.

Witnesses:

A. PARKER SMITH, M. G. CRAWFORD. 

